In the handling, distribution and banking of coins, coins are packaged according to specific established numbers, depending on the denomination of the coins. The most common means of packaging the coins is a paper wrapper which is applied around a cylinder of the coins by hand or by automatic machine, the ends of the wrapper being folded over to retain the coins in place. Spiral-wound paper tubes also are used and provide a more rigid carrier although the open ends of the tube require to be crimped or beaded to retain the coins in place. Since the package provided in this manner is opaque, external printing is required to identify the contents.
This prior art packaging procedure suffers from many disadvantages which are currently tolerated by some financial institutions for lack of a viable and inexpensive alternative.
It is customary for the larger financial institutions to wrap coins automatically with the traditional numbers of coins and distribute the roll packages to retailers and other coin users. Retailers usually check the count of the coins upon opening the roll to ensure the correct number is present. Discrepancies of one or more coins short or over are often found as a result of the ability of the paper wrapper readily to adjust to incorrect numbers of coins and the only recourse is to double check the numbers, a time consuming and tedious operation. Further, when the paper tube type package is used, it is not uncommon for the tube to be disposed of with a coin or coins still positioned in the tube, the lack of detection of this coin arising from its light weight character.
Dexterity and skill are required to wrap coins manually in the paper wrappers and many people find it impossible or extremely difficult to form the wrapped cylinders of coins. This is especially true of older persons and young people. When coins are not properly wrapped and ends sealed, coins can fall out, leading to considerable aggravation, and time and material wastage.
Hand counted coin packages often have improper numbers especially where higher number of coins are involved, leading to the necessity for a bank receiving such rolls to double check the numbers before crediting the customer.
Further, due to the opaque nature of the rolls and hence the lack of ability to visually observe the contents without breaking open the roll, there is a considerable opportunity to substitute worthless slugs, cheaper coins or foreign coins in a roll of coins, which, if undetected, leads to an appropriate loss for the bank or other recipient.
The rolls of coins, especially in the form of paper wrapped rolls, are not resistant to rough handling and hence there is a tendency for such rolls to split open or to become unrolled when bags containing them are dropped or roughly handled, leading to the necessity of counting and wrapping the coins anew.
The cylindrical nature of the coin rolls allows them to roll readily on surfaces on which they are positioned, for example, a table, and such rolling may result in the rolls falling onto the floor and breaking open, with consequent problems of collection, recounting and repackaging.
When the roll packages are opened to remove the coins therefrom, it is usual to split open the roll in the middle or some other location along its length and then throw the wrapper away. Such wrappers thus are usually used only once.
In our Canadian Patent No. 1,075,177 there is described a unique reusable coin holder which overcomes all the prior art problems attendant the paper wrappers. The coin holder is constructed of flexible polymeric material, such as, polypropylene, and consists of a hollow elongate cylindrical body having a generally circular cross section of diameter substantially that of the disc-like objects and integral annular end walls which define circular openings at the ends of the body having a diameter less than the diameter of the disc-like objects. The elongate cylindrical body is formed of two semi-circularly cross-sectioned portions hingedly joined together at one common edge by a continuous longitudinal hinge and releasably joined together at the other common edge to enable opening of the body to occur at the other common edge and hinging of the two portions relative to each other to occur along the continuous hinge to gain access to the interior of the body. The coin holder of this prior art patent is formed by molding as an integral element and is capable of being manually or machine loaded with coins, tokens or other disc-like objects.
Recently the Royal Canadian Mint, for example, has begun to issue the coins which are of lesser weight and slightly thinner than those already in circulation, so that there exist two different thicknesses of coins for the one penny denomination and possibly other denominations in the future. Variations in coin thickness within one demoniation also arise from wear during use and lack of quality control in the original minting and such variations have been observed in the coinage of a number of countries.
The differences in thickness makes it difficult to ensure that, for example, exactly 50 one cent pieces are present in a coin holder intended to hold that number, since a lesser or higher proportion of the thinner coins may result in the provision of space for one, two, three or even more coins additional to the desired coin count.
This possibility adversely affects one of the advantages of the prior art coin holder, namely the absence of necessity to check for the correctness of the number of coins in the holder, although it does not destroy its overall utility as a holder for coins and other disc-like objects, especially when the exact number of items packaged is not critical.